The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-28
With 200 Horses and Several
Hundred Cars.
Large Brick Tenements and Frame
Buildings Totally Destroyed.
Large Silk Factory Partially Burnsd-The Three
Sixes'' Alarm Sounded Hundreds Of Poor
People Lose Their Aha Poor Woman
Dies From the Shock.

NEW YORK, May 27.-Fire broke out
at 1 30 this morning in the south end of
the Belt Line stables ON Tenth avenue.
between Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth
streets. The building was entirely de
stroyed, with sixteen hundred horses
and nearly all the cars in the building.
The flames were first seen by one of the
night hands, who gave the alarm The
flames spread rapidly and soon COM
pletely enveloped the building in their
folds.
The building was five stories high and
covered a square block, reaching back to
Eleventh avenue. The upper stories
were occupied by the repair shops. and
the combustible material blazed as
soon as touched by fire. The offices
were situated in the southeast corner.
They were in flames so quickly that
there was no chance to save the books of
the company. In the stables We're over
1,60O horses and several hundred cars,
ouly ten horses and two cars being
saved. The rest were all burned up.
At a. m. the walls of the building
fell in with a terrible crash, sending mill
ions of sparks and blazing pieces of wood
high in the air. The fire alarm of the
three skies had been made as soon as the
fire chief arrived at the scene, and engines
from all parts of the city, with water
tower and hook and ladder companies,
were rapidly coming. The heat from the
flaming building was so great that sew
eral firemen and two policemen were
prostrated.
At 1:45 a. IN. the flames, aided by a
strong, high wind which was prevailing,
had leaped across the wide avenue and
communicated to a whole block on the
east side, between Fifty-third and Fifty
fourth streets. The block was composed
of six-story tenement houses and coal
yard. The terror-stricken tenants poured
out of the building like swarm of bees,
praying, fighting and cursing by turns.
The buildings burned rapidly, though
the fronts facing the avenue were of
brown stone, and by 2:30 they were
completely Quilted. The flames also
spread an entire square block over to
Ninth avenue.
AT 2:30a. IN. the next block below had
caught on fire and was blazing fiercely.
The streets in the vicinity for blocks
away We're filed with the frightened,
crying and woe-stricken tenants, fleeing
from the ravages of the flames. The
fire attracted thousands of spectators
The tenement houses We're thickly peo-
,,lnI haI b. &C.
families, and all We're poor people
who will lose all their property.
The fire was got under control at
O'Clock this morning. The stables and
contents, and frame house on the oppo-
site side of Tenth avenue. and down Fif-
ty-fourth street, We're destroyed. The
loss will not be much less than ST.
OOO, 900
Elizabeth Walsh, 16 years old, one of
the occupants of the house No. $40 West
fifty-fourth street, which was burned.
was sick in her bed, and the police res
cued her and brought her to the side
walk where she expired from fright and
shock.
Later estimates show that the loss by
the fire will not be covered by 81 ,O00, 900.
The stables are complete wreck and
the tenements ON the streets facing the
stables are also burned. There were some
thing like I 400 horses in the stables, and
only about one hundred of these were
saved.
The loss is now estimated at 81 ,32J,-
900. The fire ragged from 1 80 until day
break. The sun rose upon the scene of
desolation, but with the tried firemen
masters of the situation. The bodies of
twelve hundred horses, that had been
smothered or burned alive. were roast
ing in the ruins of the stables. One wing
of Jacob News silk factory. on Fifty
fourth street, and five brick tenements
in that block, have disappeared, and
scarcely a trace was left of any of
Tenth avenue front of which is
yet standing. A row of frame
rookeries on Tenth avenue, fronting the
stables, had been wiped out. and of the
shanty settlement all the way down
Fifty-third street from Tenth avenue to
nothing was left save blackened rocks
and rows of dead goats, dogs, pigs and
horses that had been burned to death in
the vain scramble for life. More than
100 families, to great extent very poor
people, were rendered homeless, and one
woman perished from fright and excite
ment. Any number of people, including
firemen and police were Frustrated by the
consuming heat. Men, women and chill
dren wandered aimlessly over the ruins
of their wrecked homes, bereft of their
all, and bewildered at the sudden and
crushing blow. Their losses, though
mostly insignificant in amount, were the
accumulation of a lifetime.
The insurance will be less than $500,
600. The Street Car Company carried
$4,000 insurance, divided among $50
companies.
More surplus.
WASHINGTON, May 27.-The business